Scared Shrekless

Scared Shrekless (2010) is a short film in which Shrek's friends take it in turns telling him scary stories in an effort to frighten the big fella and prove that ogres can be terrified too. Leading the charge is Donkey (surprisingly not voiced by Eddie Murphy), who instigates the whole ordeal, and he's joined by Puss in Boots, Gingerbread Man, Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf. Only the first three get to actually tell a tale because Shrek himself chimes in with a story that just so happens to have the world's best pun as a title. The three stories are all enjoyable in their own right, as is the framing device. There are several entertaining, if ham-fisted, references to previous movies in the series, as well as to other films and to the fairytales that lend the franchise its characters. It's really fun, actually, and is varied enough to never feel stale. It's a pacy, well-animated affair that's much better than I was expecting it to be.

I marvel at how much Dreamworks has exploited their Shrek franchise. I mean, how many movies, specials and short films can they make until enough is enough? While I clearly am worried about the future of the series, I must admit that despite everything, "Scared Shrekless" clearly has gorgeous CGI. So, despite being a short and having a substitute voice for Fiona, it is still amazingly nice to look at and features a lot of what made the other films enjoyable.

The episode is set at Halloween. Many of the old storybook characters come to Shrek's house to celebrate and tell scary stories. The Gingerbread Man tells a story about his mate--how he and a crazed baker made what SEEMED like the perfect partner. But, things go awry and the story is frighteningly cute. Then, Puss tells a story that is clearly inspired by "Psycho". But, again and again, Donkey keeps interrupting the story--making a mess of it and forcing Puss to tell what REALLY happened. Finally, Shrek tells a story he says is a cute version of "The Exorcist".

All in all, I was surprised that I enjoyed this film as much as I did. All three stories were very enjoyable and worth seeing...surprise! Nice, light viewing for the entire family.

A surprisingly funny and well made movie. This movie is a very basic story essentially shrek just does a bet that involves each of the main characters telling a story to scare each other. The comedy that comes out of the stories are surprisingly funny and witty for any age and do supply a good amount of enjoyment in its 30 minute run time there is also a lot of cute callbacks and like shrek the halls shrek is written in a very believable way that makes lots of sense for his character. Unlike shrek the halls all the other characters act in a very believable way And the movie is much more funnier. This is a fun Halloween movie where you get exactly what you'd hope for and a good time.

Surprisingly hilarious Halloween special with the first episode, a brilliant Bride of Frankenstein parody, particularly outstanding.

After the average Christmas special the writers really upped the ante and came up with some gruesomely funny ideas and jokes, using the by now all too well-known Shrek characters remarkably well.

The result's an entertaining half-hour roller-coaster with only the middle section lagging.

Since the first two installments, Shrek has never been this funny. Aaaargh!!!

7 out of 10 haunted castles

Scared Shrekless is a brilliant Halloween special, of the two Dreamworks specials(the other being the Monsters vs Aliens one) this is the better one of the two. Gorgeously animated(the backgrounds are always colourful yet wonderfully atmospheric at times too) with creepy music, hilarious, witty writing, inspired storytelling, all our favourite characters at the top of their game(especially Puss and Gingerbread) and great voice acting(even with the replacement of Eddie Murphy for Donkey's voice). The special is made up of three parodies, the best being the parody of Bride of Frankenstein with Gingerbread, hysterically funny, full of creepy atmosphere and often cute. Shrek's Exorcist parody was also amusing and effective in its creepiness, if not quite as terrifying as the real thing(understandably). Puss and Donkey's Psycho parody was good, it was funny with great voice work and storytelling, only let down by a couple of Donkey's comic interruptions, occasionally coming across as forced. Overall though, Scared Shrekless is brilliant, if you love the first two films(I do) or love horror(the more I see the more I highly appreciate it) you will love it. 9/10 Bethany Cox